Ball runway toy



Oct. 1, 1963 A. KLEIN BALL RUNWAY TQY Filed July 24, 1961 INVENTOR. ALECKLEIN BY HI ATTORNEY 3,105,689 BALL RUNWAY TOY Alec Klein, Salt LakeCity, Utah (9896 Sunflower Lane, Sandy, Utah) Filed July 24, 1961, Ser.No. 126,133 2 Claims. (Cl. 273-109) The present invention relates toball runways toys and, more particularly, to a new and improved ballrunway toy which may be fabricated conveniently from very thin sheetmetal, and this in a manner and by means WhlCh will add rigidity to theover-all structure.

In the past many types of ball runway toys have been devised. This typeof toy provides a great deal of amusement for children and, indeed,adults who use the same. The toys are conventionally actuated by an armor wrist movement of the handle extending from the raceway or runway ofthe toy, this in such a manner that the ball disposed in the runway willtravel rapidly in an arcuate motion about the runway in accordance withthe motion of the toys handle.

Prior toys of this type have been very expensive to manufacture sinceconventional materials used in fabricating the toy are generally eitherheat formed, or composed of a number of parts, or are otherwiseexpensive to construct. Further, if the runway is made of very lightmetal, as suggested herein, then prior structures will conventionallyemploy a very heavy handle which is welded or otherwise secured to therunway member as a separate part.

An object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a new andimproved ball runway toy which may be fabricated from a single elongatemember in combination with a suitable handle stiffener or brace.

A further option of the invention is to provide a ball runway toy whichwill be extremely versatile in operation and yet present a lowmanufacturing cost.

The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel areset forth with particularity in the appended claims. The presentinvention, both as to its organization and manner of operation, togetherwith further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood byreference to the following description, taken in connection With theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is an exploded, perspective view of the channel member andhandle brace employed in the construction of the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of the completed, ball runway toy, with thechannel member thereof partly broken away to show the cooperation of theinner end of the handle brace with the arcuate portion of the channelmember.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged view taken along the line 3--3 in FIGURE 2 andillustrates the manner in which the end of the channel member isdeformed within and secured to a medial area of the channel member so asto form the arcuate ball runway.

FIGURE 4 is a section taken along the line 4-4 in FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged view similar to FIGURE 3 and shows an alternateconstruction of deforming and providing relief for the end of thechannel member so as to aid its securernent to a medial area of thechannel member.

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of the toy in operation.

In FIGURE 1 the channel member 10 is shown; it may be either preformedor channel-configured in fabri cation from strip, sheet-stock of verythin (20 to 30 gauge) sheet metal. Handle brace 11 is preferably made ofwood but also may be fabricated from other materials such as plastic,rubber, or even metal, though the latter 3,105,689 Patented Oct. 1, 1963would generally not be the case. Where the handle brace 11 is made ofwood, plastic or rubber, then the same may be secured within the channelmember in part by having the. corners 12 and 13 crimped inwardly, asshown by dotted configurations 14 and 15, so as to retain the handlebrace 11 in its chosen position within channel member 10 as shown inFIGURE 2. It will be seen that this securernent is effective so far asthe rear end 16 of handle brace 11 is concerned. The front end 17 ofhandle brace 11 is preferably of concave configurement so as to beadapted to nest underneath and press against the arcurate, preferablycylindrical portion 18 of member 10. FIGURE 2 illustrates that the end17 of handle brace 11 is directly against arcuate portion 18 so as tolend rigidity to arcuate portion 18 in addition to securing the mountingof handle brace 11 within channel member 10. The result is a very rigidconstruction, Le. a very rigidly constructed handle portion 19, composedof the upper portion 29 of channel member 10 with handle brace 11, and arigid bracing of the arcuate portion 18 by virtue of the contact ofarcuate end 17 of handle brace 11 with arcuate portion [18.

It will be understood, however, that various end configurements for end17 may be employed. Thus, an angular configurement or even asquared-0T1" configurement might reasonably be employed, this so long asat least a portion of the end 17 contacts the under-surface of arcuatemember 18 as shown in FIGURE 2.

It is to be observed with reference to FIGURE 2 that slight deformations21 persist in the vertical channel member 10 once the same has beenformed to include the arcuate portion 18. Prior constructions have quitegenerally not taken this fact into consideration and, indeed, haveavoided such a consequence by heat forming the toy or by otherwiseemploying expensive, curved channel materials. The present inventionallows for such deformities 21 and utilizes the same to accomplish aninitial placement of end 22 into medial region 23- of member 10. Wherethe arcuate configurement of channel member 10 is accomplished through aroller means em ploying a pair of closely spaced annular grooves toaccommodate the channel sides, it has been found in practice that thesedeformities 21, allowed to take place through a slight enlargementwidthwise of the annular grooves, will occur at regular intervals. Thus,the deformities 21 will match up when fabrication is completed and theend 22 appropriately positioned to be affixed to and within the medialregion 23 of member 10. These inter-cooperating deformities 21 aid inthe initial placement of end 22 so that spot welding as at 24 in FIGURES3 and 4 may be accomplished.

Also aiding this final securernent of the toy is the fact that the end22 is provided with a slit 25 which is either narrow as shown in FIGURE3, or is relatively wide as at 25' in FIGURE 5. u If the end 22 isprovided with a narrow slit as at 25 in FIGURE 3, then adjacent portions27 and 27' will overlap so as to enable the end 22 to be positionedwithin the remainder of channel member 10 at medial region 23.

Where the slit is wide as at 25 in FIGURE 5, then no overlap-ping willtake place; however, the adjacent parts of member 19 which arecontiguous with the slit 25 may be compressed inwardly and yet, byvirtue of the inherent resiliency of the material, will press outwardlyso as to contact in a tight friction engagement the sides of channelmember 11 at medial region 23.

Again, the deformities 21 which occur by virtue of the bending ofarcuate portion 18 (see FIGURE 2, not shown for convenience ofillustration in FIGURES 3 and 5) 'will aid in accomplishing initialpositioning of arcuate portion 18 to accommodate the spot Welds at 24 inFIG- URES 3 and 5.

FIGUREA is merely a structure shown in FIGURE 3, and illustrates theoverlapping end portions 27' and.27 at the slit area 25.

FIGURE 6 illustrates the toy in operation, with the ball-28 thereofprogressing along the runway formed by channel member 10 at arcuateportion 18 thereof. The toy provides a great deal of amusement forchildren who, by a preferable wrist action, can actuate the toy in atransverse vibrating motion so as to cause the ball 28 to speed aroundits runway rapidly. This feat can be ac complished not only when the toyis being held to the front and in a vertical plane, :but also when thetoy is held in a horizontal plane either at the front, at the side, or

is to cover all such changes and modifications as fall Within the truespirit and scope of this invention,

section of that portion of the 4 I claim: 1. A-ball runway toy includingin combination, a channel member having an elongate handle portion andan arcuate, doubled-back runway portion, the end of said arcuate,doubled-back runway portion being affixed to a medial region of saidchannel member in proximity with the junction of said arcuate,doubled-back portion and said elongate handle portion, and a handlebrace fixedly disposed within said elongate handle portion and having aninner end supportingly abutting said arcuate, doubledback portion.

, 2. Structure according to claim 1 wherein said inner abutting end ofsaid handle brace is of concave configurement lapped withsaid arcuate,doubled-back portion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,576,140 Schneider Mar. 9', 1926

1. A BALL RUNWAY TOY INCLUDING IN COMBIANTION, A CHANNEL MEMBER HAVINGAN ELONGATED HANDLE PORTION AND AN ARCUATE, DOUBLED-BACK RUNWAY PORTION,THE END OF SAID ARCUATE, DOUBLED-BACK RUNWAY PORTION BEING AFFIXED TO AMEDIAL REGION OF SAID CHANNEL MEMBER IN PROXIMITY WITH THE JUNCTION OFSAID ARCUATE, DOUBLED-BACK PORTION AND SAID ELONGATE HANDLE PORTION, ANDA HANDLE BRACE FIXEDLY DISPOSED WITHIN SAID ELONGATE HANDLE PORTION ANDHAVING AN INNER END SUPPORTINGLY ABUTTING SAID ARCUATE, BOUBLEDBACKPORTION.